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DISCUSSION GROUPS
SUMMER 2022 SCHEDULE
Discussion groups allow members to explore subjects in an atmosphere of intellectual stimulation, creative self-expression, and socializing, without the expectation of tests or grades. Depending on the nature of the course, there could be a modest amount of preparation or readings required, and you may be called upon for your insights—members should be ready to participate. OLLI membership is required to enroll in these courses.
Short Story International: An Irish Perspective, Part 1 {New Course}
This course is an exploration into the short-story genre of a single literary tradition; in this instance, Irish. The suggested text is The Oxford Book of Irish Short Stories, edited by the Irish short-story writer William Trevor. This anthology traces the development of the short story in Ireland, including centuries-old tales from the vibrant, Irish, oral storytelling tradition to the English writings of Elizabeth Bowen, Oscar Wilde, Edna O’Brien, and James Joyce. As well as to other notable, contemporary writers who, taken together, dynamically reflect a cross section of Ireland’s complex society; their voices resonating through urban and rural landscapes, private and public passions, and intense, dramatic, political events. Themes—sometimes lyrical, often dark; sometimes comic, often heartbreaking, sometimes staid, often iconoclastic—include loss, alienation, feminism, family dysfunction, betrayal, exile, sexual awakening, and others. REG# 386839 | INSTRUCTOR: Carlo Coppola DATE/TIME: 8 Tuesdays, June 21-August 9, 10am-12pm
BASIC MEMBER FEE: $80 | PLUS MEMBER FEE: $40 REMOTE COURSE: Zoom information is emailed to students two days before the course begins.
Current Events: Understanding Our World
This unique discussion group focuses on exploring the news of the week. Participants share articles and opinions that pertain to what's happening both in the United States and internationally, particularly to introduce diverse views. Many of the pundits we analyze write for The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. These include such political writers as David Brooks, Thomas Friedman, Paul Krugman, Ross Douthat, Fareed Zakaria, John Bolton, Peggy Noonan, Maureen Dowd, and many more that the class may wish to cover. We also examine such magazines as The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New Republic, and other journals that give in-depth coverage of current topics. This is your chance to listen and to be heard on the events of today. REG# 386368 | INSTRUCTOR: Myrna Hant DATE/TIME: 8 Thursdays, June 23-August 11, 10am-12pm
BASIC MEMBER FEE: $80 | PLUS MEMBER FEE: $40 REMOTE COURSE: Zoom information is emailed to students two days before the course begins.
Ways of Looking at Contemporary Art
This course is designed to enhance the participant's experience of contemporary art, which is presented through virtual studio visits with upcoming contemporary artists. In addition, we view virtual exhibition with the instructor, museum and gallery curators, directors, and staff. Our inquiry-based conversations with artists invite discussion of materials, perception and interpretation of abstract, figurative, and performative projects, while considering the time and place of its making. REG# 386579 | INSTRUCTOR: Deborah Cohen DATE/TIME: 6 Thursdays, June 23-July 28, 1-3:30pm
BASIC MEMBER FEE: $80 | PLUS MEMBER FEE: $40 REMOTE COURSE: Zoom information is emailed to students two days before the course begins.
In this course, we read short stories from China and Japan. The stories from China illuminate modern Chinese life during its years of cultural and political upheaval, including Wang Anyi’s “The Destination,” Lu Wenfu’s “The Man from a Peddler’s Family,” and traditional Chinese life revealed through time-honored storytelling, including “Wine and Dumplings,” a 12th century detective story. The stories from Japan describe and critique modern Japanese life, including Kobo Abe’s “The Magic Chalk,” a work of realism and disturbing fantasy, and “Yukio Mishima’s “Act of Worship,” a story that sets estranged Japanese life against an idealized Japanese past. As David Damrosch reminds us, “Reading a work from a different place and time involves a back-and-forth movement between the familiar and the unfamiliar. A view of the world is always a view from wherever we are, and we inevitably filter what we read through our own experience. But if we don’t impose our expectations onto the new work, its distinctive qualities will enlarge our field of vision.”
REG# 386391 | INSTRUCTOR: Leonard Koff DATE/TIME: 8 Sundays, June 26-August 28 (no meetings July 3, 31), 12-2pm
BASIC MEMBER FEE: $80 | PLUS MEMBER FEE: $40 REMOTE COURSE: Zoom information is emailed to students two days before the course begins.
As the psychological novel developed in the 20th century, some writers attempted to capture the total flow of their characters’ consciousness rather than limit themselves to their characters’ rational thoughts. To do this, writers incorporated a literary device called stream of consciousness to reveal a character’s inner thoughts, feelings, and the full range of his or her impressions—visual, auditory, physical, associative, and subliminal. To a reader, this literary device often made stream of consciousness fiction seem fragmented because it incorporated snatches of incoherent thought, ungrammatical constructions, free association of images, and words at the pre-speech level. But once accustomed, readers came to recognize the depths of a character’s emotionally moving and profound internal awareness. In this course, we read examples of well-known stream of consciousness narratives, among them Benjy from Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, Molly Bloom from James Joyce’s Ulysses, Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, and Jose Saramago’s Blindness. REG# 386355 | INSTRUCTOR: Leonard Koff DATE/TIME: 8 Mondays, June 27-August 29 (no meetings July 4, August 1), 10am-12pm
BASIC MEMBER FEE: $80 | PLUS MEMBER FEE: $40 REMOTE COURSE: Zoom information is emailed to students two days before the course begins.
From Nietzsche and Nihilism to Existentialism and Choice
In this course, we begin with Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), who was famous for uncompromising criticisms of traditional European social morality, political pieties, and religion. Nietzche found conventional philosophical ideas pedestrian, irrelevant, and detrimental to achieving humanity’s potential. We trace Nietzsche’s philosophy, from his first notion of nihilism through his developing concepts of Ubermensch (Overman) and Untermensch (Underman) to his tragic encounter in the Piazza Carlo Alberto and how it revealed his ultimate philosophical position. We see the full spectrum of his philosophy and how his ideas were a precursor to Existentialism. From there, we progress to Existentialism itself and what it offers philosophically, with special emphasis on its notion of choice; from its beginning to the contemporary use of existentialism with a small "e." Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich starker! REG# 386357 | INSTRUCTOR: Vincent Coppola DATE/TIME: 8 Wednesdays, July 6-August 24, 10am-12pm
BASIC MEMBER FEE: $80 | PLUS MEMBER FEE: $40 REMOTE COURSE: Zoom information is emailed to students two days before the course begins.
Shakespeare on Film {New Course}
In this course, we view and discuss film adaptions of six of Shakespeare’s plays: Macbeth, Hamlet, Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Titus, and Coriolanus. Our discussion includes what Aristotle called the diagnosis of a dramatic tragedy: plot, character, thought, diction, melody, and spectacle. We place particular emphasis on rising action—a series of events that create suspense in the narrative, and the climax—the part of the story where the suspense reaches its highest part. “The play’s the thing wherein to capture the conscience. REG# 386369 | INSTRUCTOR: Vincent Coppola DATE/TIME: 6 Mondays, July 11-August 15, 1-3:30pm
BASIC MEMBER FEE: $80 | PLUS MEMBER FEE: $40 WESTWOOD: UCLA Extension Gayley Center, 1145 Gayley Ave, Room 114
